As seen from the ladder

August 15


It is a fact that we have advanced to medio August. And I am still standing on a ladder trying to fix my house. Oh, it  started out very innocently with an idea like "we've gotto" to fix the porch this year. Before we knew it, we had EXTENDED the porch with 20 feet of length, and it didn't stop there. Nope, we found out that we wanted an UPPER DECK accessible from the front bedroom. OK, that is doable, but when we put up a new roof over the porch we have to fix...the dormers as it would be next to impossible to do that from the new steel sheaths we are going to put on the porch roof. So, being in the middle of august I kinda got in a panic. After all the next two months are not going to pass any slower than the previous ones. And by mid-October we have to get ourselves geared up into road-worthiness, meaning the big annual trek south.


So back to my ladder. I secured her from sliding off the roof by nailing a 2x4 onto the porch roof serving as a natural brake against a fall 9ft. to the ground. I also took one of the ropes I always scavenge from the beach and tied it around one of the rungs, nailing the rope to the fascia board.


Now you wonder what I had to do on the dormer, right?
Well the side fascia board was loose. And it was loose because it was rotten. And because the upper end was standing right into the wind it had been an invitation for squirrels to take up residence behind that board. When my crowbar took off that board I was showered with nuts, seeds and who knows what else. Yep, here I could see right into a 3-storey squirrel house. Cozy beds made of dried hay, feathers and all kind of other nesting material. A three-bedroom residence at its best. 
When I cleaned it out it was like "Oh my...where they gonna live now?" Well, I guess they have to try the forest where they belong.


The real work started now as I had to custom-make a specially beveled board with several angles. Ladder down and ladder up, ladder down, ladder up --- Finally it fit right in, and while at it, I did the front board as well. 


What else did I see from my ladder? At one point a black Chevy stopped dead on the road out front, the driver hanging out the window shouting something up to us. It sounded like: Looking Good! 
Well, good to know we had the local community on our side. Looking towards the bay, fog had been lingering all day. I knew we would get some rain later in the evening and more tomorrow. So I decided to prime today's carpentry work before I had to move the ladder again. When filling a smaller portion of the white paint into a small glass jar, a few droplets ran along the outside of the glass. I wiped it off with a cloth and some thinner, grabbed the glass and.... whoosh lost it out of my hand, as the thinner had made it real slippery. I was looking at a wonderful round white lake of primer on the floor of the garage. I kinda spooned the stuff back into...no, this time I took a 1kg metal coffee can, and went to work with a paintbrush.

Fixed-up dormer

Made it just in time before the sky turned real gray.

Tomorrow I will have to order the steel roofing and for that purpose I plan a tour across the border.


See ya tomorrow!